noveltune Chapter 95: The City at Night, the Iron Box Screeching in the Dark
Chapter 95: The City at Night, the Iron Box Screeching in the Dark
The old van only turned on its lights after leaving the alley, pushing forward with light close to the road. The Zhenhai iron and wooden box was placed on top of an old cotton quilt, with red thread wrapped around the box and the tips of the mugwort leaves already darkened.
Tieguai Li sat in the passenger seat, holding his toolbox, with half of his prosthetic leg wedged against the car door.
"Drive slowly, don't wake up the ancestors."
Cheng Xiaojin leaned against the back seat, her hands wrapped in a towel.
"If the one in the box is really awake, he should ask us first if we bought tickets."
Zhou Banxian was holding the compass, his face still pale.
"Stop talking nonsense. Every word of nonsense we uttered on the road today meant one less breath of life in the whole city."
Cheng Xiaojin took the cigarette out from behind his ear and tapped it against the car window.
"Mystic, if your mouth were blessed, all the talisman sellers in Panjiayuan would have to change careers."
Master Ma sat beside the wooden box, a teacup on his lap, his palm resting on the corner of the box.
"From now on, no one is allowed to touch water. Xiao Jin, how's your hand?"
Cheng Xiaojin rubbed her fingertips together through the towel.
"It works sometimes and it doesn't. I could feel the patch just now, but now it's like feeling for a coin through two layers of cotton pants."
Tang Wanqing glanced at the needle in the compass box.
"The effects of the medicine are wearing off, so use your hands sparingly before you reach Mancheng."
"Miss Tang, you and the boss lady are the same, both telling me to use them less, but out of everyone on the bus, my hands are the only ones that are valuable."
Tieguai Li snorted.
"Worthless my foot, no one would even buy your hands secondhand now."
Cheng Xiaojin smiled.
"You can scold me, but don't scold Zhao Defa. He just contributed saddle leather; he's one of the people."
The heat inside the car dissipated.
Outside the car window, the night roads in the outskirts of Beijing became increasingly deserted, and the puddles along the roadside were tinged with gray.
Zhou Banxian stared at the compass.
"We're almost at the Mancheng Shuikou."
Zhou Jie's cousin, who was driving, said in a low voice, "It takes an hour and a half to get to Laokeng if we go straight, but it takes more than half an hour if we go around the village road."
Master Ma said, "Take the straight road, and you must enter the pit before midnight."
As soon as he finished speaking, white fog rose from the car window, seeping in through the cracks, carrying the fishy smell of well water that had been sitting for a long time.
Tieguai Li wiped the windshield.
"Damn it, it's not raining outside, where did this fog come from?"
Tang Wanqing pressed down on the compass.
"It's not fog."
Cheng Xiaojin looked out the left window.
The water flowed down, the first line stopped, the second line followed, and the third line also stuck to the glass.
"one two three."
Zhou Banxian tucked the wine pot into his robes.
"It has started counting."
Master Ma's teacup lid clicked once.
"Don't leave it in the car."
Tang Wanqing pulled the red thread and pressed it against the car window.
"We can't open the windows; the humidity outside is even higher."
Tieguai Li turned around.
"The red line has turned black."
The red line around the bottom of the wooden crate had turned black, and the mugwort was curled up as if it had been soaked in water.
Cheng Xiaojin's ear-tracking device.
"It's smelling iron. The whole city is filled with the smell of Zhenhai iron, trying to make us take the wrong turn."
Tieguai Li asked, "What should we do?"
Cheng Xiaojin looked at the passenger side of the car.
"Brother Li, did Aunt Zhang bring the ashes from the stove?"
Tieguai Li opened the bottom of the toolbox and took out an oil paper package.
"I brought it."
"Spread mud on the wheel wells, all four wheels. Don't let it get wet; cover it with old newspapers."
Tieguai Li immediately retorted, "The cart is still moving, why do you expect me to get off?"
Master Ma said, "Stop the car, but don't turn off the engine."
As soon as Zhou's cousin stepped on the brakes, fog immediately enveloped the car, reducing the headlights to only two or three meters.
Cheng Xiaojin took out the old ashtray, held it with a towel over it, and placed it in the front left corner of the wooden box.
As soon as the ashtray hit the ground, a low thud came from the wooden box, like iron turning over in a deep well.
"Brother Li sprinkles ashes, Miss Tang presses against the window, and the fortune teller keeps an eye on the numbers."
Tieguai Li pushed open the door and got out of the car. As soon as one foot touched the ground, gray water seeped up the road and onto his shoe.
"Hey, you even hire people?"
Cheng Xiaojin peeks in.
"Brother Li, don't talk to it. This thing is uncultured and can't understand Beijing dialect."
Tieguai Li used a newspaper to scoop up the dust and slapped it onto the mudguard of the front wheel.
When the ash touched the ash water, white smoke rose, and the car body swayed slightly.
Tang Wanqing pressed the copper coin against the carriage window, and the compass needle spun, but she pressed it back to the Tianchi.
Zhou Banxian stared at the marks on the window.
"One, two, three, four."
Cheng Xiaojin looked at the red thread on the wooden box.
"quick."
Tieguai Li went around to the rear wheel, and several streams of gray water gushed out from under the car, heading straight for his prosthetic leg.
He grabbed a wrench and slammed it on the ground.
"Fuck you."
As the ashes from the stove were scattered, the waterline receded by half a foot.
After the four wheels were finished sprinkling the water, Tieguai Li crawled back into the car, his trouser leg soaked.
"This water is pretty cunning."
Cheng Xiaojin pointed to his trouser leg.
"Don't rub your feet in the car. If you do, I'll put the car wash bill on you, and I won't accept it."
Zhou's cousin said, "It's okay, the car is old."
Master Ma said, "Let's go."
The vehicle surged forward again, its wheels crushing the ash water, the mud flaps flinging away the ashes, and a plume of white smoke rising from the mist.
The dragon's roar inside the wooden box subsided, and the aura of the Zhenhai Iron stabilized.
The watermarks on the car window that had been counted up to four were dried up by the heat, and I didn't write any more.
Tang Wanqing looked at the packet of stove ash.
"Can the fiery temper of ordinary households suppress the earth's veins?"
Cheng Xiaojin took the ashtray back.
"Don't be so formal. To put it bluntly, Aunt Zhang has boiled water on the stove all her life. The water vapor is attached to her. Now, using her stove ash to scald these dirty water people is just a way for neighbors to mediate their disputes."
Zhou the fortune teller grinned, "This mediation fee is quite expensive."
Tieguai Li suddenly glanced at the rearview mirror.
There's a car behind us.
In the fog, a black minivan followed, its headlights off, at a distance that was neither too close nor too far.
Zhou Banxian turned the compass backward.
"The visitor is not friendly."
Cheng Xiaojin tilted his head and glanced at it.
"Following a car in the middle of the night without its lights on, they're either stealing fuel or going to a funeral."
Tang Wanqing asked, "Boss Lin?"
Master Ma covered the teacup.
"He's not that slow-witted; by the time he realized the array diagram was incorrect, the fastest person was already on his way."
Tieguai Li cursed, "When did he find out?"
Master Ma said, "Maybe he didn't find everything, but he doesn't trust the scarred nose, nor does he trust us. Sending a car to keep an eye on things is in accordance with the rules."
Cheng Xiaojin listened through the wooden box for a while, and the metallic sound inside the box gradually shifted to the right.
He looked up to shield himself from the wind.
"Is there an underpass ahead?"
Zhou's cousin nodded.
"There's a small culvert that's always flooded underneath; once you cross it, it's a straight road."
Cheng Xiaojin said, "Goodbye."
Tieguai Li turned around.
"But how do I get there?"
Is there a dirt road on the right?
"Yes, it's around the orchard, but it's narrow."
"Take the dirt road."
Tang Wanqing frowned.
"The dirt road is bumpier, but the Zhenhai Railway is easier to move."
Cheng Xiaojin pointed to the wooden box.
"There's a water-related obstacle under the bridge ahead. If we go over there, the Zhenhai Railway will be dragged and its position will be slightly off. When the car behind passes by, we can give it a good cleaning of its undercarriage."
Zhou Banxian was delighted.
"You're a real jerk."
Cheng Xiaojin was very serious.
"A strategic shift, incidentally accompanied by the implementation of mass water conservancy projects."
As soon as Zhou Jie's cousin turned the steering wheel, the old van plunged onto the dirt road. The car swayed so much that the wooden box slipped, and Ma Ye and Tieguai Li held it down at the same time.
Tang Wanqing placed the copper coins on the side of the box.
"Stay calm."
The black van was a beat late, but continued rushing towards the underpass.
The fog enveloped the car body.
A few moments later, a screeching sound of brakes came from the other side of the bridge, and the black car stalled.
Cheng Xiaojin saw in the rearview mirror that gray water had flooded the car window, and someone inside was banging on the glass, with water streaks climbing up the glass.
Tieguai Li chuckled.
"Tell him not to turn on the lights."
Master Ma didn't laugh.
"Did you see the people in the car clearly?"
A crack appeared in the fog, and a hand pressed against the rear window of the van.
The hand was wearing a silver ring.
The snake bites its own tail, forming a circle.
Cheng Xiaojin's cheeky expression disappeared.
Ouroboros
Tang Wanqing asked, "Boss Lin himself?"
Master Ma spoke.
"The hand doesn't look like his, but the ring is real."
Zhou Banxian held the compass tightly.
"They already have men around the city."
Cheng Xiaojin tucked the Zhonghua cigarette behind his ear.
"That's good. We're heading back to the camp, and they're seeing us off. They're putting on quite a show."
Master Ma looked ahead at the dark road.
"Don't delay."
Zhou Jie's cousin stepped on the gas, and the old bread truck emerged from the fog.
The black car window was still rattling in the underpass behind us.
A sound.
Two sounds.
Third tone.
Zhou Banxian closed his eyes.
"Stop counting."
Cheng Xiaojin whispered, "Let it count."
Tang Wanqing looked at him.
Cheng Xiaojin stared at the silver ouroboros ring in the rearview mirror.
"The Water Demon likes to count, so let it entertain our guests first."
No sooner had he finished speaking than another low hum came from the wooden box.
This time it's not veering to the right.
It's heading southeast.